Potential use under the examination exception in the Copyright Act

The Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) includes an exception for the University to use third-party content for examination purposes without infringing copyright.

Depending on the use, coordinators may be able to rely on Section 200(1A) of the Act for copying and communicating ‘the whole or a part of copyright material’ with genAI tools, as long as the material is used to generate and/or as part of the questions in an examination. S200(1B) includes the ability to adapt or localise materials for use in an examination.

Students may also be able to rely on the options under this exception when answering examination questions.

Best practice would be to use a 'closed' genAI tool like the University's enterprise access to Microsoft Copilot that does not train its model on user prompts.

Use of copyright material within an examination still requires attribution. To learn more, access the Examinations copyright guide (PDF).

Have a question? Contact the Copyright Advisor

The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.